Two of Downtown's Most Spectacular Interiors Are Now City Landmarks

Left: The "Red Room" of 1 Wall Street, originally the client reception room for the Irving Trust Company. Right: The 10-story atrium of the former Temple Court Building, now the Beekman Hotel. Photos courtesy of the Landmarks Preservation Commission 

Two of the most historic and magnificent interiors in Lower Manhattan are now designated as city-protected landmarks.

Last month the Landmarks Preservation Commission granted that status to the “rare and stunning” restored atrium of the Temple Court Building, now the Beekman Hotel, at 123 Nassau St., and to the elaborately tiled banking room of the former Irving Trust Company building, known as the “Red Room,” at 1 Wall Street. Both buildings are already designated landmarks.

THE TEMPLE COURT ATRIUM

Two hundred offices opened onto the ornate nine-story atrium of the 1883 Temple Court Building, with its arched doors and window openings, and cast-iron skylight. Made possible by advancements in 19th-century engineering that allowed for taller buildings, such interior atriums became popular in the late 1800s because they provided added light and ventilation to the offices. But they lost their allure due to fire safety concerns, and the Temple Court’s atrium was sealed off for decades. A three-year restoration of the space began in 2013 and includes an innovative fire safety system of sprinklers and smoke curtains. It is now a rare example of an atrium in a building of this height.

Commissioner Michael Goldblum called the space “unbelievable.” “I have been back several times now to eat and drink in that space,” he said during the commission’s discussion about the atrium, “and let me tell you, there’s no more majestic space in New York to do those two things” 

THE “RED ROOM” OF 1 WALL STREET

The “Red Room” of the 1931 Irving Trust Company tower was the first of many collaborations between Ralph Walker, the building’s renowned Art Deco architect, and master muralist Hildreth Meière. Originally serving as the company’s client reception area, the room is surfaced with a 13,000-square-foot mosaic of patterned glass tiles that range from dark red to orange, strikingly interlaced with jagged gold bands. The building, one of the city’s first Art Deco towers, is now converted to mostly residential use. Following its restoration, the Red Room” will reopen as the first New York City location of the French clothing store Printemps. That work is being aided by the recent discovery of a large batch of surplus original tiles. 

Meière is known for her murals in the AT&T Building, Radio City Music Hall and Temple Emanu-El, among others. But her abstract design for the “Red Room” was a departure from what usually included figurative and symbolic imagery related to the client’s building. (Her allegorical ceiling mural, “Continents Linked by the Telephone and Wireless,” can be viewed in the AT&T Building at 32 Sixth Avenue.)

“When you enter [the room], it’s so dramatic and elegant. It’s like you have this wow moment,” said Commissioner Jeanne Lutfy. “It’s a hidden gem.”